This Nike X MoMA collab just turned socks into something sneakerheads can drool over

In a new collaboration revealed Tuesday, Nike and the MoMA Design Store have teamed up to curate a line of socks that are the stuff of dreams for design-savvy sneakerheads.

The socks are currently available on the MoMA Design Store website at $18 a pop. Each pair features the iconic Nike “swoosh,” created by graphic designer Carolyn Davidson in the ‘70s, stacked directly on top of the MoMA logo. Nike’s “just do it” tagline appears across the toe.

They come in four avant-garde colorways, including electric blue and red, pink and orange, forest green and teal, and banana yellow and lime green. Also, white and gray (yawn). The first pairs seem like the perfect pop of intrigue in a mysterious museum curator’s monochrome black outfit, or, conversely, the cherry on top of a maximalist’s dream ensemble.

Nike x MoMA socks collab launched today 🧦 (No other SKUs, just socks for now) pic.twitter.com/CFbKGsCgE0— Michael J. Miraflor (@michaelmiraflor) August 27, 2024

Nike x MoMA socks collab launched today 🧦 (No other SKUs, just socks for now) pic.twitter.com/CFbKGsCgE0

And the socks wouldn’t be Nike products without some high-tech capabilities: The co-branded garments come complete with shock-absorbing cushioned soles and “a moisture-wicking upper weave”—though, given their aesthetics, we have to wonder whether any of these socks will be used in a sports context.

And while Nike as a brand is famously sports science-obsessed (a quick Google search on Nike’s futuristic Sport Research Lab is enough proof), the company has become equally iconic for its ubiquity in street style culture over the decades. Innovations like the waffle sole and Air Max technology have, in some cases, become better known for their aesthetics rather than their utility on the track or the court. Many even credit Michael Jordan repping Nike’s first Air Jordan 1s in 1985 as the true start of the massive modern-day sneakerhead community.

MoMA is no stranger to the overlap between Nike and the fashion and design worlds, either. The museum’s history with Nike began with its inclusion of the Nike+ FuelBand in its permanent collection. Nike sold the fitness gadget between 2010 and 2012, and it is now part of MoMA’s permanent collection.

According to the product page, the MoMA store chose to include the MoMA x Nike socks after curator Paola Antonelli selected three pairs of Air Force 1 sneakers as objects to highlight in the 2017 exhibition Items: Is Fashion Modern?

“As the Air Force 1’s role as a street-style staple superseded its athletic origins, it became collectible, and sneakerheads began seeking out the rarer mid- and low-top models,” the exhibition’s curators noted of the shoes at the time.

MoMA and Nike are now officially merging the worlds of sports innovation and design with their series of ultra-collectible socks, perfect for the sneakerhead who pays a bit more attention to whether their new retro kicks complete their y2k revival aesthetic than whether they can run any faster.

The probability of these socks becoming as iconic as an Air Force 1 is highly unlikely—but, hey, at least the MoMA x Nike socks look cool.